1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object-oriented device management technology for integrating external interfaces regardless of the difference among devices by managing the devices in function attributes assigned to the devices to be managed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with an increasing number of vendors of various devices such as communications devices, information processing devices, etc. and with an increasing number of variations of functions, there has been a movement to integrate user interfaces when the devices are managed, and to market device management application software for management of many kinds of devices having the same function. The management systems are referred to as object-oriented device management systems.
Conventionally, management software has been prepared for each type and vendor of a device, and a management system user can manage a device by accessing the device through the management software. The management software requires a device interface function of exchanging necessary management information by accessing a device, and a user interface function of exchanging necessary management information with users. However, developing such management software for each device requires a long time and intensive work, and costs to run the device management system are high. Additionally, the management system user has been forced to master the usage of the management software for each device.
With the above described object-oriented device management system, the user interface function in the management software is standardized and common management software (hereinafter referred to as object-oriented management software) is prepared for devices grouped in management functions. That is, when each device is managed in functions of a package, package object management software is prepared. The package object management software commonly manages the attributes of each device such as a package name, a product lot number, a failure state, etc., and provides a user with an interface for accessing the attributes. The device interface function of retrieving a necessary attribute from these attributes or setting it in a device is provided by the software referred to as a device interfacer other than the package object management software. The package object management software obtains or sets for a device an attribute required for management by communicating with a device interfacer. Furthermore, if plural kinds of line terminating equipment for a switching unit are managed from a terminating point function, a terminating point object management software is prepared. The terminating point object management software manages the attributes indicating, for example, whether or not a communications alarm is issued in each line terminating equipment, etc. and provides a user with an interface for accessing the attributes. The device interface function for obtaining the attributes from the line terminating equipment is provided by the above described device interfacer. The terminating point object management software obtains the above described attributes from the line terminating equipment by communicating with the device interfacer.
Thus, with the object-oriented device management system, the device interface function specific to each device is encapsulated by a device interfacer prepared for each device, and the object management software having the user interface function can obtain or set a device an attribute required for management by accessing a device interfacer of each device using the identical protocol. As a result, the object management software can be shared among a plurality of vendors and plural types of devices. Therefore, when a management system is provided for a unit, the vendor has only to develop a device interfacer corresponding to the device, and the user interface function can be provided by general-purpose object management software. Thus, a device management system can be developed with reduced effort within a shorter time and at a lower cost. Since a management user is provided with common user interface classified by management functions regardless of the type of device, it becomes easier to learn the usage of the management software for each device.
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the system device according to the conventional object-oriented device management system.
In FIG. 1, a group of object management software (object management software group) 101 is an application group where each application is used to manage each function of a device 103. The object management software 101 accesses a database system 104 according to the message or command transmitted from an operating system (Ops) 105, which is running in a work station, etc. of a management user, through a Q interface 108. It also accesses the device 103 through a device interfacer 102. The Q interface 108 is a standard interface in which a standard communications protocol CMISE from the International Organization for Standardization (IOS) is adopted. The CMISE protocol is located in both presentation and application layers in the OSI reference model (a model in which layered functions associated with the communications prescribed by the international standard of network architecture `Open System Interconnection` are defined). In this protocol, for example, a request for and a response to the management information for the device 103 to be managed (the target) are performed as abstracted services such as an M_GET service, an M_SET service, an M_ACTION service, an M_EVENT-REPORT service, etc.
The device interfacer 102 provides a user with a device interface function specific to the device 103, for obtaining/sending a necessary attribute for management from/to the device 103, and provides an interface 109 common among the devices 103 for the object management software 101 by encapsulating the difference in access system for each device 103. In this case, the communications of a message between the object management software 101 and the device interfacer 102 are established by a message passing system which is one of the inter-process or inter-object communications systems. In this system, a message is transmitted by establishing a communications channel between a transmitting process (object) and a receiving process (object).
The database system 104 accesses the database stored in memory 106 or an external storage device 107 at a request from the object management software 101. The database stores what is obtained without directly accessing the device 103 among the function attributes relating to the device 103.
Thus, the function attributes managed by the object management software 101 include the data (device name, etc.) stored in the memory 106 or external storage device 107 managed by the database system 104, and the data (error state, etc.) stored in the device 103 itself. In the following explanation, the former function attribute is referred to as an A-type attribute while the latter function attribute is referred to as a B-type attribute.
As described above, the CMISE protocol performs, for example, the request for and the response to the management information for the device 103 as an abstracted service such as an M_GET service, an M_SET service, an M_ACTION service, an M_EVENT-REPORT service, etc.
An M_GET service is used when a specified condition is transmitted from a management user to receive in return the function attribute of the corresponding device 103 to be managed. An M_SET service is used when a specified condition is transmitted from a management user to alter the function attributes of the corresponding device 103 to be managed. These M_GET service and M_SET service belong to either the above described A-type attribute or B-type attribute as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
As shown in FIG. 2, if the message specifying the M_GET service or M_SET service transmitted from the Ops 105 to the object management software 101 through the Q interface 108 belongs to the A-type attribute, then the object management software 101 is required to issue a read or write command corresponding to the message to the database system 104. Thus, the database system 104 accesses the database in the memory 106 or external storage device 107.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, if the message specifying the M_GET service or M_SET service transmitted from the Ops 105 to the object management software 101 through the Q interface 108 belongs to the B-type attribute, then the object management software 101 is required to issue an m_get message or m_set message corresponding to the message to the device interfacer 102 corresponding to the device 103 to be managed. The device interfacer 102 issues a read or write command corresponding to the message to the device 103 to be managed.
Next, an M_ACTION service is used when a specified condition is transmitted from a management user to perform a corresponding action defined in the device 103 to be managed. As shown in FIG. 4, if an M_ACTION service message is transmitted from the Ops 105 to the object management software 101 through the Q interface 108, then the object management software 101 issues an m_action message corresponding to the transmitted message to the device interfacer 102 corresponding to the device 103. The device interfacer 102 controls the device 103 to be managed according to the contents of the control stored in the m_action message.
An M_EVENT-REPORT service is used when issuing an asynchronous state notification from an object to be managed. As shown in FIG. 5, when an asynchronous state notification is issued by the device 103, the notification is first transmitted to the device interfacer 102. Upon receipt of the notification, the device interfacer 102 generates a corresponding m_event_report message, and transmits it to the object management software 101. The object management software 101 generates a message of an M_EVENT-REPORT service corresponding to the received message, and transmits it to the Ops 105.
The following problems are pointed out with the above described conventional object-oriented device management system.
The first problem is that the interface 109 which is required between the object management software 101 and the device interfacer 102 according to the types and contents of the services requested by the Ops 105 should be individually specified. This complicates the interface 109 with the increasing number of service types to obtain satisfactory contents of services, thereby generating complicated processes of the object management software 101 and the device interfacer 102. That is, as shown in FIGS. 2 through 5, the interface prescriptions of the m_get message, m_set message, and m_action message are required respectively corresponding to the M_GET service, M_SET service, and M_ACTION service requested by the Ops 105. Further detailed interface specifications are required depending on the contents of the respective services.
The second problem is that the program structure of the object management software 101 is complicated because the object management software 101 has to determine the type of the attribute to be managed and switch the source of the service between the database system 104 and the device interfacer 102. That is, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the read command should be issued to the database system 104 when, for example, data of an A-type attribute is read in response to the M_GET service, and the m_get message should be issued to the device interfacer 102 when data of a B-type attribute is read.